University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers are part of a four-year project selected for funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program. Chemical and biomolecular engineering professors Alexa S. Kuenstler, Simon A. Rogers and Damien S. Guironnet will collaborate with Illinois materials science and engineering professor Antonia Statt, Jeffrey Ethier from the Air Force Research Lab, and chemical and biological engineering professor Whitney Loo at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is leading the project. Kuenstler is the lead at Illinois.
The researchers’ project, “AI-Informed, Closed-Loop Design of Negative Photoresists for High-Volume EUV Lithography,” focuses on developing photoresists compatible with new extreme ultraviolet (EUV)-based lithography methods used in the production of computer chips.
Photolithography is a key element in chip manufacturing in which the intricate patterns of electronics are transferred onto silicon wafers using light. Crucial to this process are photoresists, sensitive materials that create these patterns when exposed to light. EUV lithography, the latest technology used by US-based manufacturers, has the potential to enable more powerful chips by packing higher volumes of small electronic components onto a single chip.
Finding photoresists that can work with this process and pattern these extremely tiny features is essential to the success of this technology. The researchers will investigate the local molecular structure of polymer-based photoresists to understand how patterning works on the nanoscale level and how this translates to manufacturing outcomes. They will then use elements of chemistry, processing, characterization and computation to design new polymer-based photoresists that can enable this cutting-edge lithography.
The project is one of 25 DMREF projects awarded in 2025 to 104 researchers – including seven in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois – at 44 universities across 25 states. The goal of DMREF is to get materials to market faster and cheaper than what is possible through traditional research methods.
Alexa Kuenstler is a Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors (LEAP) scholar, and Simon Rogers and Damien Guironnet are Westwater Professorial Scholars, all in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Illinois. Guironnet also holds a faculty appointment in the department of chemistry.
Antonia Statt is a professor in the department of materials science and engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering and is an affiliate of the Materials Research Laboratory, the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois.
University of Wisconsin-Madison shared this announcement.